1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the provision of telecommunication and/or media services to a fixed location device or stationary equipment unit.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
Voice services, video services, and data traffic services are examples of general types of media services which are prevalent in information technology. Access to such services, at a home or a residence for example, can be provided using any one of several access technologies, such as telephony (e.g., via PSTN), public radio (via radio frequencies), Internet (via modem connection over PSTN or via Ethernet cable connection), and television channels (e.g., over cable or satellite).
Often there is a need, when using an essentially stationary user equipment device, to obtain access to media services from a fixed location, such as a home. In such case the stationary device is typically connected by a wire-line to a fixed access network. Yet for such a device thus far there is no access solution that can provide a mix of both circuit switched access bearers and packet switched access bearers, nor the dynamic establishment of these access bearers on a same physical media access in the wire-line/fixed access network. Moreover, currently there is no node/system which, for such non-airlink-connected equipment, can establish/release dynamically the bearer channels, or switch the circuit switched access bearer channels and the packet switched access bearer channels with different bit rates and quality of service (QoS) in the same node and independently of the transport layer technology. In other words, it is not now possible to have bandwidth on demand for different media services (voice, video and data traffic services) on the same physical access links and controlled by one node and independently of the transport layer technology.
The problem in the existing wire-line/fixed network is that each service requires its own network and equipment. Each media type requires its own network and its own access network, with network-specific switches and specific access termination equipment.
What is needed, therefore, and an object of the present invention, are apparatus and technique for providing services of differing characteristics (e.g., different bandwidth, different quality of service, different bit rate) to an essentially stationary user equipment device.
An advantage of another aspect of the present invention is provision of dynamic access bearer handling/dynamic bandwidth allocation of various services on one physical channel/wire of fixed network.
An advantage of another aspect of the present invention is provision of service availability for popular services at both a mobile user equipment unit and a stationary equipment unit.